Intervention Goals and Objectives

This program will focus on two significant goals; creation of nutrition and diet awareness in several community and establishing an intramural sports program with soccer and basketball as sporting activities (Kanters et al. , 2008; Alselaimi, 2010). This dual approach is meant to combine two significant approaches to enhancing health; good nutrition and exercise to guarantee and effective and successful program. Goal #1: We plan to introduce a nutrition-based program to improve health conditions of the youth from August 2020-June 2022. Process objective: The program will run in the following communities; Cudahy, West Whittier-Los Nietos, West Puente Valley, Bell, Willowbrook, Huntington Park, East Los Angeles, Florence-Graham, San Fernando, and Maywood in the Los Angeles district area. Process Objective: This physical activity program will be in the form of an intramural sports program that will run two activities; basketball and soccer for 22 months starting in August 2020.

Impact Objective (Learning): All students in the targeted population will be educated on the importance of regular exercise for the health. Impact Objective (Behavioral): By the time we end the program, 15-20% of students participating in the intramural sporting activities will have included regular exercise in their normal routine. Impact Objective (Environmental): The intramural sporting program is meant to provide a secure and supervised location for exercise for the targeted youth in the 22 months from its initiation to its completion. Outcome Objective: In the first year from its initiation; by September 2021, the program will aim to retain at least 80% of the students in the intramural program. Therefore incorporating interventions with approaches based on TPB will yield desired outcomes. Hackman and Knowlden (2014) report an 82% change in behavior or behavior modification when TPB strategies are implemented.

In the Los Angeles district, Cudahy, West Whittier-Los Nietos, West Puente Valley, Bell, Willowbrook, Huntington Park, East Los Angeles, Florence-Graham, San Fernando, and Maywood have a reported 29-40% rates of childhood obesity (Fielding, 2009). Therefore our interventions will target families, schools, and other institutions located within these communities to ensure effectiveness and success of the program. To make sure that these interventions have a sustainable impact on the communities, the program will center on implementation interventions at homes or within the school institutions targeting the desired population. This will be implemented while promoting positive social interaction and team building. Impact Objective (Behavioral): By the close of our program in June 2022, at least 15-20% of students enrolled in the program will self-report incorporating regular exercise into their lifestyle.

This foundation will be a basis to continue to maintain physical activity as they get older. The usefulness of TPB assisted in predicting behavioral intentions of students (Alselaimi, 2010). In Kanters et al. All this will be done by trained nutritionists who will also be in-charge of periodic screenings. Fila and Smith (2006) report that a family-based intervention like our program will be a more successful intervention because adolescents tend to heavily influenced by perceived subjective norms on diet in the form of their parents or caretakers. Apart from family-induced barriers, these youth are also affected by cultural influences. Therefore when their parents and caretakers are more educated on diet and nutrition, shifting their behavior, then these adolescents are more likely to change their habits too (Fila & Smith, 2006).

Impact Objective (Learning): After the program launch and first evaluation, these youths and their families will have increased their ability to read labels, prepare nutritious meals at home and calorie calculation by 10-15%. Impact Objective (Environmental): Amongst the target community, cultural and environmental barriers will decline by 10-20% by the completion of the program. Perceived subjective norms do play a role in affecting human behavior and therefore it is important that the program focus on shifting attitudes on diet within the community as well. A family-based approach will be instrumental in creating these outcomes by the end of the program in August 2022. Outcome Objective: After 22 months since its enrollment, we will have catered to at least 5000 of the students and their families.